In The Name Of The Father
by shinigami-lives
Summary: The effects of one promise can last a lifetime, but no matter how far you run, you can't hide forever. Yaoi


Chapter 1

"I still don't see why we have to be here." Seifer commented once again. Quistis sighed the sigh of the long-suffering, as she yet again responded to the blonde's complaints,

"We are here because there had been unprecedented high levels of monster activity in the area."

Seifer rolled his eyes in an exaggerated mananer,

"What, do you have cue cards or something, Trepe? Of course I know why the request's been put in for SEED, you've only told me about five hundred times already. But it's a low priority mission in a dead end area. Surely another team could've been sent in, one that isn't supposed to be guarding the President of Esthat on his visit to Garden?"

It wasn't really a question that expected an answer, so Quistis arched an eyebrow and returned the quip,

"So keen to get back to Garden, Seifer?"

Something darkened behind Seifer's eyes,

"So I can spend my time around people who either hate me or look at me like some particularly unusual science experiment?"

Quistis sighed, recognising true bitterness behind Seifer's sarcastic façade,

"At least Winhill's so out of the way that they probably don't keep up with the news much. Given the anniversary that's coming up, being here's probably best for President Loire as well."

Seifer didn't respond, the welling pools of darkness behind his eyes growing deeper. Quistis could have bitten off her tongue. Eventually she tried again,

"Seifer, it's been ten years, when are you going to talk about what happened?"

The blonde ex-knight scowled,

"There's nothing to talk about. Where's Loire got to anyway?"

Quistis recognised the change of subject and cast her eyes around, looking for the President. Spotting him standing outside the door to one building that he obviously recognised, but seemed to have no particular distinguishing feature in her eyes, Quistis went over, knowing Seifer would follow, or not, no matter what she might say or do. Thankfully, he followed without visible or audible complaint. However, when he joined the two on the step, he gave the door such an exaggerated glance that Laguna flushed and started to explain, with rather more detail than clarity,

"Mrs Mason, who lives here, she rents room out; I thought we might need somewhere to stay. She's been here forever, so if anything's going on, she'll know about it."

With that, the rather excitable President rapped a sharp tattoo upon the door. Quistis and Seifer exchanged sceptical glances, the ex-knight taking it upon himself to speak then,

"Loire, this woman you knew here, she may not be renting rooms anymore; Hyne, she might not even be here now."

Laguna frowned, he had, like everyone else, long ago given up trying to get Seifer to actually use his name, but he still found the address odd, reminding him uncomfortably of his time at boot camp. But the expression seemed off on the usually easygoing face of the President and soon he shrugged it away,

"She'll still be here. Nothing much ever really changes in this place."

On that note, the door swung open to reveal an old woman, he sizeable bulk covered in a sober black dress and her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a bun. Strands of her hair were coming loose and others had already fallen to hand around her ears. She wore a checked apron that was dusted with flour and there was a smear of butter on the tip of her nose. For a moment she regarded them with the distrust typically shown towards outsiders, then her gaze settled on Laguna and her face cleared into a wide smile,

"My word! Is that Laguna, Miss Raine's young man? We haven't heard about you in years, almost ready to give you up for dead. And these must be friends of yours. Come in, all of you. I have a guest over, so I hope that'll be okay."

And not saying anything more, or allowing anyone else to say anything, she turned and bustled inside. The three followed her and as they went inside, Seifer turned to Quistis and said sotto voce,

"You're right, they really don't get the news much around here."

Quistis stifled an uncharacteristic giggle as they followed Mrs Mason through into the kitchen. There a little girl, maybe eight or nine years old, was licking cookie dough of her fingers, while a tray of chocolate chip cookies cooled on the side. As they entered, she stood up, sucking her fingers clean of the last remnants of dough, and wiping them off on the hem of her t-shirt. Mrs Mason smiled at her and some tension relaxed from her shoulders as she surveyed them critically. She had long dark hair that was coming loose from its braid to fall in waves around her face, while long dark lashes framed large eyes, a piercingly familiar shade of blue-grey. After she had inspected them, she then extended one hand, absently wiped clean on her flour-covered apron, and spoke in a high but clear voice, mercifully free of any childish speech impediments or affectations,

"I'm Tamara, nice to meet you. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Mrs Mason turned on her young guest scoldingly,

"Now, Miss Tammy, what have you been told about being polite?"

The girl made a face,

"It's Tamara, not Tammy. 'Sides, I was polite – I said it was nice to meet them. But there's no point in wasting words when you don't mean them."

Mrs Mason sighed and turned to the other three, presumably to make some sort of apology, but Quistis smiled and knelt slight to take the girl's hand,

"It's nice to meet you too, Tamara. My name is Quistis Trepe, and these are my companions, Laguna Loire and Seifer Almasy."

There was no reaction from Mrs Mason at the names, but Tamara fixed them with a determined stare. After a few moments she commented,

"I know who you are."

Quistis arched an eyebrow, wondering what the girl would say next and unsure what reaction there might be. Then the girl spoke again, her voice level as she determinedly did not look at Mrs Mason,

"You're the SEED who the mayor requested. You're here to deal with the monster problem."

Quistis smiled, even if she did know who they were specifically, the girl wasn't going to say anything in front of Mrs Mason. But nevertheless she found herself curious,

"And how do you know that, young lady?"

The girl smiled impishly,'

"Silly. My dad was the one who encouraged the mayor to request assistance."

Mrs Mason smiled vaguely, seeming more uncertain now it was revealed that her guests were SEED. It was, Quistis reflected, probably not the kind of situation the woman was used to dealing with. Laguna spoke then, keeping his voice warm and friendly as he addressed the woman,

"I don't want to impose, ma'am, but we may need to stay for some time and I wondered if you were still renting out your spare rooms."

Mrs Mason shook her head sadly,

"I'm sorry dear, I really wish I could help, but my daughter left her husband recently and she and the baby live with me now."

Laguna nodded understandingly and was just about to ask where else they might stay when Tamara piped up,

"You could stay with us."

Quistis demurred gracefully, but Tamara pouted and crossed her arms stubbornly,

"I want you to stay with us. There's nobody interesting around here."

Seifer let loose a wry chuckle,

"You think we're interesting?"

The girl nodded fiercely,

"Yeah. You're really interesting. All of you, but particularly you, Sei-fer. There's no-one around here who'd fight for a dream. That's why my dad has to fight all the monsters."

Seifer arched an eyebrow at that, but the girl was stubbornly insistent on her point,

"Anyway, you have to stay with us, because my dad knows you."

Now it was Quistis's turn to make use of an elegantly questioning eyebrow. The girl nodded in response,

"Yeah, I think he has pictures of you all, but I've only seen one of _him_ properly. My dad found me looking at them and he was sooo mad."

Laguna was curious now,

"Your father has pictures of us?"

Tamara smiled,

"Well, I don't know exactly. I've only seen the picture of _him_, but dad has this box of stuff he hides in his cupboard, and there are a bunch of pictures in it."

Mrs Mason spoke up now,

"Miss Tamara, I think you should leave your father's things alone. If he wanted to talk about them, he wouldn't have hidden them. It's hard enough for him raising you himself without you pestering him all the time about things he's obviously trying to leave behind."

Tamara nodded unhappily,

"I guess; but it would still be best for them to stay with us, wouldn't it?"

Here at least Mrs Mason nodded, but Quistis frowned uncertainly,

"We really wouldn't want to intrude."

"Nonsense," Mrs Mason said and then turned to Laguna. "It really would be the most convenient arrangement. They live in Raine's bar, but it's not open now and it's not good for that boy to be alone so much. Anyway, 'Mara's right: if anyone knows anything about these monsters, it'll be her father."

Tamara smiled and nodded energetically and after a moment's silence, Quistis acquiesced. While they had been speaking, Mrs Mason had been putting the now cool cookies into a Tupperware container. Now she gave this to Tamara, saying as she did so,

"Now, honey, make sure you father gets some of these. That boy's far too skinny. And send our love for his birthday, the invitation for dinner remains open if he wants. Run along and I'll see you next week."

With that she wrapped Tamara in a brief powdery hug, which the girl seemed more to endure than actively reciprocate. Tamara then went to get her coat and Mrs Mason turned to them,

"She's a good girl really. But she's still young yet and stubborn, and she gets these fanciful ideas. Her father's her idol and she won't hear a word against him. He's a good boy and he's done his best raising her, but really the child needs a mother, otherwise she'll get odd ideas…"

"I'm ready to go." Tamara pushed open the door as she spoke loudly. Grabbing Laguna by the hand, she practically dragged him from the room and then out into the street, balancing the cookies with her other hand while Quistis and Seifer followed in their wake. As they walked down the street, Tamara turned to Laguna and confided,

"Mrs Mason wants dad to marry her daughter."

The contempt in this statement surprised Laguna and he arched an eyebrow,

"You'd disapprove?"

Tamara's nose wrinkled up into a scowl,

"Momma died when I was born. It's always been just me and dad, we don't need anyone else."

Laguna smiled slightly,

"And if it made you father happy?"

Tamara made a face,

"I suppose that'd be okay. But it's not like that. Dad doesn't like any of the girls here, thinks they're all silly. And it'd be dumb to get married to someone he didn't like just so that I could have a mom. I don't need one. That why she thinks I have odd ideas."

Laguna's eyebrows crept further upwards,

"You were eavesdropping?"

Tamara flushed slightly, but steeled herself,

"Eavesdropping can give you information that can be used to tactical advantage as long as no-one knows you know. In other words, it's fine unless you get caught."

With that, she skipped off, obviously intent on avoiding any further scolding. Quistis had a strange expression on her face; she spoke slowly, carefully considering her words as she did so,

"I think that Tamara's father may have been a SEED, or at the very least studied at a Garden."

Laguna frowned,

"What makes you think so?"

Quistis answered carefully,

"Well, from the sounds of it, he knows how to fight monsters and encouraged the mayor to contact us. Besides, that comment about eavesdropping is the same as one frequently employed by cadets – they get it when they first train in intelligence gathering."

Laguna made a face,

"By intelligence gathering, you mean spying."

It was a statement, not a question, but Quistis nodded anyway,

"It's part of what a SEED does."

Laguna frowned buy said nothing; Seifer had no such compunctions, and when he spoke, his voice carried more than a little bitterness,

"If you wanted your kid to be something different, you shouldn't have dumped him in an orphanage."

"Seifer!" Quistis interjected warningly, but Laguna shook his head sadly,

"It's okay. I never precisely abandoned Squally, but I didn't look for him either."

"You didn't even know he existed." Quistis said logically.

"That doesn't change anything," Laguna stated. "I had a commitment here, Hyne, I had a wife here. I should have come back."

Surprisingly, it was Seifer who spoke then,

"You did what you had to. You had a war to fight and a country to rule. Sometimes that shit has to come first. The Princess would have understood that."

Before anyone could comment on his sudden change in attitude, or the 'Princess' comment, Seifer strode of quickly to where Tamara was waiting at the door to the building that had once been Raine's bar. Laguna turned to Quistis, who shook her head slightly,

"Sometimes, it's better not to ask."

As they came to the door of the bar, Tamara slipped a key out of her coat pocket and opened the door. She slipped off her shoes and coat and indicated for the others to do so also. Then, signalling them to follow her, she called out,

"Dad, I'm home. Mrs Mason and I made cookies and the SEED are here."

There was a moment's pause, the sound of doors slamming and then approaching footsteps. There was no particular verbal response, but Tamara's expression indicated that she had not expected any. Instead, she led them through the open-plan living space into the kitchen area, where she hopped up onto a bar stool and sat happily swinging her legs as she hummed along to a tune that seemed to exist only in her own head. Laguna found himself scanning the massive renovations that had been done and tried not to notice the heavily security conscious nature of the new layout and the fact that the glass in the windows now appeared to be bulletproof.

Before Laguna could comment on any of this to Seifer or Quistis, who were doing their own, far more subtle security appraisals, the door at the far end of the kitchen opened to reveal a far too familiar figure. Quistis had just been sipping from a glass of water that Tamara had poured her; she choked and dropped the glass, which shattered noisily on the floor. Seifer was sheet white and utterly motionless, so Laguna found himself to be the one to speak, his voice cracking as he surveyed the slender figure, framed frozen with surprise in the doorway,

"Squall?"

TBC.


End file.
